Passato Prossimo Made Clear: Essere vs Avere
Vurbit Team
Language Expert
The passato prossimo is the workhorse past tense of everyday Italian. It’s the tense you’ll use to say what you did, what happened, what you saw, and where you went.
The part that confuses learners isn’t the tense itself—it’s choosing the right auxiliary: essere or avere.
When you’re practicing the passato prossimo, having a conjugation reference in your pocket helps you quickly confirm the auxiliary and participle—especially when you’re offline. Grab Vurbit’s offline Italian conjugation reference on iOS.
The formula
Auxiliary (present tense) + past participle
- Ho mangiato — I ate / I have eaten
- Sono arrivato/a — I arrived / I have arrived
Step 1: conjugate the auxiliary
Most of the time, you only need the present tense of avere and essere to build the passato prossimo.
| Verb Avere | ||
|---|---|---|
| Subject | Verb | English meaning |
| Io | ho | I have |
| Tu | hai | You have |
| Lui/Lei | ha | He/She has |
| Noi | abbiamo | We have |
| Voi | avete | You (plural) have |
| Loro | hanno | They have |
| Verb Essere | ||
|---|---|---|
| Subject | Verb | English meaning |
| Io | sono | I am |
| Tu | sei | You are |
| Lui/Lei | è | He/She is |
| Noi | siamo | We are |
| Voi | siete | You (plural) are |
| Loro | sono | They are |
Step 2: add the past participle
Regular past participles are predictable:
- -are → -ato: parlare → parlato
- -ere → -uto: credere → creduto
- -ire → -ito: dormire → dormito
Some high-frequency participles are irregular, so you’ll meet them early: fare → fatto, vedere → visto, prendere → preso, essere → stato.
When to use avere
Use avere with most verbs that take a direct object (transitive verbs). A quick test: can you ask “what?” or “whom?” after the verb?
- Ho mangiato una pizza. — I ate a pizza.
- Hai visto Marco? — Did you see Marco?
- Abbiamo comprato dei biglietti. — We bought tickets.
This category is big, which is why avere is the most common auxiliary in daily speech.
When to use essere
Essere is used with many intransitive verbs, especially verbs of movement, arrival/departure, and change of state. It is also used with reflexive verbs (more on that below).
Common verbs that take essere include:
- andare, venire, arrivare, partire, entrare, uscire, tornare
- nascere, morire, diventare, restare, cadere
Examples:
- Sono arrivato/a tardi. — I arrived late.
- Siamo partiti/e alle sette. — We left at seven.
- È diventato/a famoso/a. — He/She became famous.
Reflexive verbs always use essere
If the verb is reflexive (it uses mi/ti/si/ci/vi/si), the auxiliary is essere:
- Mi sono svegliato/a presto. — I woke up early.
- Ci siamo incontrati/e ieri. — We met yesterday.
- Si è lavato/a le mani. — He/She washed their hands.
Agreement: the rule learners miss
With essere, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number:
- Luca è andato.
- Maria è andata.
- Luca e Marco sono andati.
- Maria e Anna sono andate.
With avere, the participle usually stays the same:
- Maria ha mangiato.
- Maria e Anna hanno mangiato.
One important exception: when a direct object pronoun comes before the verb, agreement can appear:
- La pizza? L’ho mangiata. — The pizza? I ate it.
- Le chiavi? Le ho trovate. — The keys? I found them.
Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)
- Mixing auxiliaries: if the verb is reflexive, it’s always essere.
- Forgetting agreement: with essere, practice saying the ending out loud (-o/-a/-i/-e).
- Overthinking “movement”: focus on exposure and patterns; some verbs don’t behave the way you expect at first.
With practice, choosing essere vs avere becomes automatic—just like it does for native speakers.